Interesting question: jerky bacon - what kind of cuisine? Cooking bacon yourself

Not all people are clearly defined in terms when it comes to products close to fat. The more difficult it is to solve a question that is quite far from our realities: salty, smoked, dried bacon - what kind of cuisine, and whether there is such a product in the adjoining stores. Considering the moment that nowadays many recipes require the participation of bacon, it is worthwhile to figure out what it is and how to use it.

We evolve errors

Buying dried bacon, what kind of kitchen it would "come up with", we must understand that this is not fat. Not every pig is suitable for him, and not all of its parts. Animals are selected with a long back and rapidly growing. In addition, the ration of pigs intended for bacon is also very important. They are in no way fed with dung and waste - only beans, barley, millet, vetch; Root crops are given chopped, pigs are soldered back, and even milk. As a result of such expensive investments, it is more likely not fat, but meat with its interlayers. When slaughtering on bacon, only the side of the pig goes. The product is primarily salted. Even after it can be dried or smoked.

Dried bacon - what kind of cuisine?

In fact, the name of the product is of Celtic origin. That is, the historic homeland of bacon were the lands of Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and Scotland. In written sources of these edges, it was first mentioned in the 14th century. The English still love, produce and eagerly eat Celtic bacon, although today the country of its greatest distribution is still, probably, the States.

Controversial moments

However, not everything is so simple with a delicacy called dried bacon. What cuisine claims to be authorship, in addition to Celtic? For example, Canadian. In it, only the lumbar region of the pig goes to the bacon, and the ham must also be lean. So Canadian bacon is much more expensive than regular bacon.

Consider themselves as the "parents" of bacon and Italians. Their variant is called pancetta and differs from the Celtic modification by the abundance of spicy herbs and spices.

Salty, Celtic, homemade, without smoked

You can cook bacon at home. The recipe for cooking, in principle, is simple. True, you are unlikely to find a real "bacon" pork. It can be replaced with a shovel or ham, the structure closest to the original. The brine is prepared from three liters of water, a liter of beer, 400 grams of sugar (try to still find brown), 600 - rough salt and 50 - sodium nitrate. As spices are taken 10 pressed peas pepper, as mashed juniper berries and laurel leaves. This amount of liquid is enough for 10 kilos of large pieces of meat. Pork is immersed in the brine and placed on the bottom of the refrigerator for four days. Then for two weeks the bacon is suspended in a cool room, best at the same temperature (about 4 degrees). Bacon is Celtic ready. To improve the taste and quality, it can last up to a year.

Weal in Italian

As already mentioned, not only the Celts invented bacon. The recipe of preparation, invented in Italy, consists of several stages. The first step in a large container is poured a pound of large salt and spread on it 2 and a half kilograms of pork (do not cut it!). The bowl is wrapped in foil and placed in a refrigerator for three days. After this time, the pork is washed well in running water and a brine is prepared: pour a spoonful of salt into a liter of apple cider vinegar, a teaspoon of ground red and black pepper, a crumbled rosemary sprig and four pressed garlic cloves. In this brine a few minutes thoroughly rinse the meat, and then roll it in a kind of breadcrumbs of 100 grams of salt, a handful of fennel and a tablespoon of both types of pepper - red and black. The whole surface must be covered with this mixture. The future bacon is tightly packed in parchment and bandaged with a string of string. Since pork will give the fat, on top of the package it is wrapped up with a cloth or paper towels - for soaking. A month later, under the freezer, when the bacon becomes elastic, the wrapper is changed to clean, and the meat itself can be eaten.

If there is a smokehouse

Unfortunately, without it you can not cook smoked bacon. But if you have it or you will be "loaned" by a friend or relative, you can make an amazing treat. Some preparations will be required, in particular, it is necessary to concoct the so-called pink salt. For it, iodized salt is mixed with sugar, ground pepper (of all kinds, what you will find) and porridge from Bulgarian red pepper, onion, garlic and basil. Proportions - at your discretion. Just do not do this kind of salt very much - for two and a quarter kilograms of brisket is enough for a teaspoon. To it are added one and a half tablespoons of brown sugar, as much usual salt and a pile of maple syrup. Such a mass of meat is rubbed, placed in a small pan with a pelt down and for a week put in the refrigerator. Turn and mix every day. Then the brisket is washed, dried, put on the grill and returns to the refrigerator for half a day. Since the meat will drip, an oven sheet is placed under it. Now the bacon preparation is in the final phase. It is placed in a smoker, heated to 95 degrees, for three hours. It will remain to cut the skin and wrap it in film until it is consumed.